Where would you shoot to disable a vehicle?

This is a discussion on Where would you shoot to disable a vehicle? within the Carry & Defensive Scenarios forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; Where would you shoot to disable a vehicle?
The driver....

One thing that never seems to occur to people: if someone's tailgating/chasing you, and there's no reasonable way to get away from him, just slow down. If he's determined to hit you, you're much better off if he does it at 25 than at 65. As long as you keep moving, there's not a whole lot he can do about it.

Nothing I say as "user" should be taken as either advertising for attorney services or legal advice. Legal questions should be presented to a competent attorney licensed to practice in the relevant state.

Until he decides to run you off the road...remember, if he's pushing your rear towards one side (as in a PIT maneuver), steer WITH it to avoid being spun around and accelerate to get in front of him before you run out of road width; if you steer counter to him, you'll spin out even faster. If he's pushing your front to the side, steer back into him and brake to get behind him. If he's pushing you directly side-to-side, hold yourself straight on/steer slightly back into him if necessary.

Keeping score, I'm at +2 for Matt so far. I have to agree with Matt and others who have said you must shoot the driver.

However, purely in fun; I would have to say shooting for the engine compartment and wonder if a few rounds in the battery would completely short out the electrical system. The auto can run without a battery but not sure it would run with a complete short? Probably one for Mythbusters. As others have said with shooting the radiator, you would also be taking out the transmission cooler. The trans would pump out the fluid and may stop sooner than the engine would over heat.

The transmission cooler if there is a secondary one, may be mounted to the radiator, or the AC coil on the front of the car usually closer to the passengers side, if it has an automatic transmission. However if the auto doesn't have a secondary transmission cooler, the only part of the radiator that the transmission fluid runs through is one of the tanks on the side of the radiator, not the whole core portion, that is coolant only. Not very good odds of hitting just that portion IMO.

On the battery, they are mounted all over the place depending on what kind of car you have. Two of mine are mounted on the drivers side, one is on the passengers side, and one is in the middle. Good luck picking a spot to damage the battery.

Just remember that shot placement is much more important with what you carry than how big a bang you get with each trigger pull.www.ddchl.com
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I read a thread several months ago about a guy in a small car getting harassed/threatened by someone in a large SUV while driving on an interstate. The other driver started out tailgating and escalated to trying to run him off the road. He had a 911 operator on the cell phone but police were still a long ways off. He finally feared for his life enough that he was ready to open fire and the sight of the gun caused the SUV driver to cease and desist.

This situation has had me thinking about where to shoot a vehicle to disable it. Obviously, shooting the driver would bring the conflict to a quick resolution. The downside to that is you just converted a guided torpedo to an unguided, 2-ton torpedo traveling at 70 mph. Shooting the tires would definitely make things difficult for the driver, but there’s no guarantee it will stop him. We’ve all seen police chases on TV of cars running on rims. Plus, you will most likely shoot a tire closest to you and that may make him swerve into you. There are a lot of critical parts in the engine compartment that would bring a vehicle to a halt if shot. The gas line, throttle linkage and oil pan would cause the car to die quickly. But hitting parts you can’t see from another moving vehicle requires much more luck than skill. I always thought the radiator on a car was weak point that also presents a big target. But I don’t know how long it would take for a car to overheat if there was a bullet hole in radiator.

Has anyone else given this some thought? If you decided you had to shoot to stop a vehicle, what would you aim for?

The only time I would shoot at a vehicle is when it was heading straight for me. If I had no recourse I would start firing at the driver through the windshield to stop me from being run over and killed. But this risk is just asking to get my ass locked up. So it would be a last resort.